Lawn care service keeps New Castle County green

Tim and Ashley run a self sustainable and organic lawn care service in Dover, De.
Jerry Habraken/The News Journal

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Tim Jaudon runs his Kobalt electric blower down the sidewalk in front of his neighbor's house in Dover, De. Jaudon and his wife Ashley run Clean Air Lawn Care, an eco-friendly lawn service in Northern Delaware.(Photo: Jerry Habraken, The News Journal)Buy Photo

Dover couple Tim and Ashley Jaudon's lawn care service keeps more than just the grass green.

Clean Air Lawn Care North Delaware, the local franchise of a national brand, is a sustainable and organic lawn care service for residential and small commercial properties.

According to its website, the company boasts more than 60 locations nationwide. The Jaudons, who opened No. 49, began "marketing aggressively" last month.

The business serves Hockessin, Greenville, Brandywood, Arden, Rockland, North Star, Meadowbrook, Alapocas, Westover Hills, Brandywine Springs, Wilmington's Trolley Square and Wawaset Park. But Ashley said she and her husband are willing to drive further.

"Pretty much, if you're in New Castle County, we'll service your yard," Ashley said.

The duo's break into an organic lifestyle was a slow and steady one. It started four years ago after Ashley discovered she had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that caused her to pass out regularly and require round-the-clock companionship.

Tim transitioned out of the Air Force to care for his wife, and the two began looking for ways to lead a healthier lifestyle and make ends meet. With a Clean Air franchise, they found both.

"It's been very much a team effort," Tim said.

Delawareans have already been exposed to the sweeping organic movement: Just last year, Pennsylvania start-up Envirokure announced it would open a production plant in Harrington to reprocess more than 22,500 tons of chicken litter a year into organic fertilizer.

Tim and Ashley are not using the chicken poop fertilizer, but they say theirs – Clean Air's own brand of fertilizer – keeps the soil in tip-top shape, which Tim said is the key to a healthy lawn.

A typical service looks like this: While clients have the option to customize their lawn's treatment, the couple still applies an organic fertilizer to the yard, then an eco-friendly pre-emergent weed control and micro-organism soil builders. To avoid emitting air pollution, they use a solar-powered electric lawn mower, which they say is much quieter than a conventional lawn mower.

Instead of trying to manicure the grass down to almost nothing, Tim said he and Ashley trim it to somewhere between two-and-a-half and three inches to "let the lawn take care of itself." The Jaudons offer a weekly service to ensure the grass stays a healthy height, Tim said.

The only two things their service does not offer? Power washing and snow blowing.

Tim estimated it takes 45 minutes to an hour to service a 2,000-3,000-sq ft yard, their clients' normal lot size. As of now, Tim and Ashley tend to yards 5,000-sq. ft. and under.

Ashley noted clients do not have to be environmentally conscious to consider their services. The quiet lawn mower, full-service sessions, and weekly maintenance might be attractive enough on their own, she said.

And, while the lawn care service is not the cheapest around, it is also not the most expensive; it actually falls on average, Ashley said.

For the basic treatment – mowing, edging, trimming and blowing – there is a $30 flat rate, which can go up to $45 depending on lawn size, she said. Treatment application usually ranges from $60-70, she said.

"There's a stigma that green stuff is more expensive, and we didn't want to do that," Ashley said. "Our goal is to help reduce water and air pollution, and we know the best way to do that is to stay competitive."

As they wrangle in more clients, Ashley said she and Tim hope to add one more truck per season and hire two employees per truck. When that time comes, they plan to expand.

"At some point, we would like to be Clean Air Delaware and service the whole state," she said.